Lloyd Kahn is the editor-in-chiefof Shelter Publications, an independent California publisher.Shelter Publications specializes in books on buildingand architecture,as well as health and fitness.Lloyds latest book is Tiny Homes on the Move: Wheels and Water.For more info, see: www.shelterpub.comLloyd Kahn is the editor-in-chief of Shelter Publications, an independent California publisher. Shelter Publications specializes in books on building and architecture, as well as health and fitness. Lloyd’s latest book is Builders of the Pacific Coast. For more info, see: www.shelterpub.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/lloydkahn

My friend Louie and I spent a few days in the city last week. Went to Fox Hardware on 4th Street, classic old school hardware store, huge inventory, somehow I'd never been there. Went to the Ferry Building foodie complex (too crowded with tourists), wandered around Union Square, Maiden Lane, went to Macy's Men's store, rode escalators up to all 5 floors, saw no clothes of any interest, checked out North Face, went to the Maritime Museum, had 2 Irish coffees at The Buena Vista…

All Saints Co. Tailors had dozens of beautiful old sewing machines as window display.

The other night we watched a performance by Tom Waits from 1978, filmed at the Austin City Limits series. It was stunning. OK, I'm overboard in the enthusiasm department. I'm constantly "stunned and amazed," as my friend Jack puts it. Stunned and amazed — may it continue ever thus — I ain't backin off.
This concert knocked me out. The persona — holy shit! The songs, the tight, elegant band…Reminded me of Bob Dylan's breakthrough songs, where you just couldn't figure out where those wildly poetic words and great music were coming from. Another planet?

I'm watching/listening to/ it right now. The 3rd or 4th song, starting about 19:20, "A Sweet Little Bullet From A Pretty Blue Gun," is on as I write — killer. This is just a radiant performance. http://video.pbs.org/video/2179574410/

"A few months ago I saw the mighty, ever-reigning dinosaur kings of rock, the Rolling Stones. I had a general admission ticket and a small pocket camera, and arrived many hours early so I could worm my way to the front.…I’ve seen the Stones several times over the years, but this was the first time I brought a camera. The smartphone tsunami has forced concert promoters to give up their long-running battle against fan photos. Fancy SLRs are still prohibited at lots of shows. But apart from a few hardline reactionaries like Prince, most performers let their audiences go hog wild with pocket cameras and cellphones.
But what I really want to draw your attention to are the awesome capabilities you can now find in a pocket camera. With extreme lighting, fast-moving subjects, and chaotic settings, live concerts present photographers with many challenges. I hope the shots I'm sharing in this post show you that you can now achieve impressive results in the trickiest environments with the lightest of hardware. .…"
-Rob ReidOn BoingBoing here.

"SWOOPE, Va. — Hog heaven, it turns out, is a place on earth, a sun-dappled mountainside in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia where one day this fall a herd of Gloucestershire Old Spots, Hampshires, Yorkshires and Durocs contentedly gorged their way toward 300 pounds.…
Some vacuumed the underbrush with their snouts, noisily ingesting grasses and herbs, acorns and persimmons, with the occasional grub and worm. Others squeezed their portly forms into communal wallows, legs splayed in cool, damp soil.…
Among the nation’s most famous farmers, he has lately turned to preaching the gospel of the forest-fed pig. At a time when 90 percent of America’s pork is produced in huge confinement operations (the largest, Smithfield, is now owned by a Chinese corporation), Mr. Salatin, 56, is urging the return of the pig to its ancestral home. Like Virginia farmers of a century ago, when herds roamed and foraged these mountains, he has unleashed his pigs into the nooks and crannies of 450 acres of Appalachian hardwood forest on his Polyface Farm.…"New York Times article by Kathyrn Shattuck here.Photo by Andrew Shurtleff

Hi,
My name is Vanessa Hill and I am emailing you on behalf of Reduce Reuse Recycle. My team and I have been working on a article all about green living and yurts. We used your page (http://www.shelterpub.com/_mongolian/MCH-links.html) quite often as a resource so we wanted to send a formal thank you note!
Last week one of our interns (Sarah) asked us to pass on another article to you that she found useful during our research on yurts. http://www.movoto.com/buyers-tips/yurts
If it's not too much trouble would you mind adding the link to your site, I want to show Sarah her hard work has paid off and show her I have seen a change in her for the better and she can save the world one carbon footprint at a time!…Thanks again,
Vanessa Hill
http://recyclereducereuse.org/

After noticing an unprecedented number of people begging on New York City's streets, Andres Serrano embarked on a project to collect some of the signs homeless people use to tell their stories and ask for change.

"AlaiaLite surfboards are constructed of local, sustainable or recycled woods as much as possible. The skins are 1/8 to 3/16″ thick with an extruded recyclable foam core, epoxy film finish and recycled plastic/milk carton and wood rails.
Alaia boards do work amazingly well in small surf, and I think AlaiaLites will help open up many areas of surf worldwide because they float and paddle better. Not many get stoked on small waves, but these make it possible – no fins and no rocker make minimal drag.…
'faster than any finned board could have ever gone'"Click here.From Mike Mahoney

"With the closest new moon of 2014 coming on January 1, 2014, and our planet Earth sweeping closest to the Sun for the year on January 4, 2014, expect large spring tides along the ocean coastlines in early January 2014!

"In one small swoop, Idaho architect Macy Miller has opted out of paying rent or even a mortgage with her perfectly formed 'Tiny House' - that cost her only $11,416.16 and which she broke her back building.
Finding herself divorced, unemployed and losing her home to foreclosure two years ago, the Boise resident enlisted the help of her dad and later her boyfriend to start building her 196-square-foot dream home.
The house which is built atop a flatbed trailer - made complete with sustainable materials - has the unlikely boast of its $2,000 compost toilet being the most expensive amenity or appliance in the whole cute building.…"Click here.Photo: Marcy MillerSent by Rick Gordon